Friday, March 15, 2013

How NOT To Protest

The folks at Wisconsin Family Action may want to reconsider their approach to protesting events featuring "drag queens" from now on. You likely heard from the anti-homosexual group on various media outlets--including WOSH--about how they were "offended" that a public institution like UW Fox Valley would present a show featuring gay men dressed up like women and pass it off as "educational fare" for students.

However, as is often the case in situations like this, WFA's high-profile opposition to the drag show did not result in the show being cancelled or people staying away in droves to avoid having their morality offended. Instead, THE EXACT OPPOSITE happened--with MORE PEOPLE attending the event than if Family Action had just kept its mouth shut.

Until the press releases started arriving in reporters' email inboxes, the drag show had sold about 50-tickets. A whole 50-people were going to "support" this "art form" by putting down good money to watch men pretend to be women. But after we gave Family Action what they wanted--their 60-seconds in the spotlight--the show became a cause celebre--with none other than alternative press sex advice columnist Dan Savage (warning--link will likely offend you) stepping in to buy ALL of the remaining tickets to the show and giving them out for free.

So in an effort to prevent people from being exposed to "entertainment" that may "offend them", Wisconsin Family Action only succeeded in exposing MORE people to it. Did WFA expect the "upstanding people of the Fox Valley" to turn out with pitchforks and torches to drive the drag queens out of town? Did they think that the people attending the show would have to walk through throngs of protesters hurling epithets at them? Did WFA want death threats sent to UW Fox officials to derail the show? Was there any chance that Family Action supporters were going to sit in the audience and continually interrupt the show by yelling and chanting? (Obviously this wasn't going to happen, because there is no Anti-Gay Entertainment Union that I know of to organize such efforts.)

Wisconsin Family Action would have been much better off to sit on their hands--allow the drag show to attract its pathetic handful of attendees--lose the University Student Fund a bunch of money and THEN denounce the event to anyone willing to listen. In protesting as in comedy--timing is everything.

1 comment:

Or, people could lighten up and become a little less ideologically hysterical and a little more culturally aware. There's such a long-standing tradition spanning "eastern" and "western" culture since basically time began, of men dressing as women, that I couldn't even begin to list or link it all.People find it entertaining for a variety of reasons. It happens in theater since before and including Shakespeare, ancient Japanese theater, frat boys since forever, the Monty Python guys for Pete's sake, don't guys at Harvard do drag? Too many Hollywood movies to list of males in female dress and the hilarious antics that follow. Plenty back in the 40s too so you know - not really a big sign of decadence and Onanism. So re: How To Protest...chose something that's actually a problem, don't look like fools who take everything out of all context and can ONLY ONLY see the world thru your own highly personal FACT-ALTERING assumptions. College people cross-dressing for LOLs doesn't equate with sodomy. But now as to TRUE LGBT status ~ most young people do accept gay/bisexual/etc people. And you and "protesters" will be experiencing that, and experiencing serious resistance to interfering as this group has attempted to do. The clock can't be turned back on that. Your wife probably works, and has been educated in the same manner as males. It's normal now, it wasn't always. Working to turn the clock back on that issue would be a real serious waste of time. Some cats can't be put back into the bag. The same is true for social perceptions of gay/lesbian etc persons. We drive cars now, on roads, going back to horse and buggy days isn't feasible. Even if God told you "he" wanted that, the wider culture would not oblige. You could organize a separatist community of some type, to live a retroactive lifestyle of your choice. You could work personally and with like-minded friends to "prove to God" that you "hear his word" and obey. if that's what it takes in your belief system to 'save your souls" you can make personal choices like that. Members of religious sects have always felt at odds with the larger social environs, they respond often by feeling More Pure, "chosen", and by segregating themselves in a mental sense to protect their own views. You can still do that. But in reality, and in this modern world, except for older generations, this kind of "outrage" has little meaning or very negative meaning to huge numbers of people. This is an enormously lost battle on the part of modern conservatives. The reason for that is not because of well-orchestrated satanist communist agendas in Hollywood and on TV, but because so many LGBT people have come out to friends and family, and people are confronted in real life and real time with deciding - do I really hate Cousin John and Sister Ann, and my best friend from Little League, or is the person more complex and valuable than dogmatic (and self-glorifyingly god-like) interpersonal judgements. There are a few hardened hearts of course. But most often Mom does not reject Son for being gay. Most people who do reject their kids/friends are considered cruel and abusive. The ship of LGBT acceptance has sailed. Younger people have by and large chosen to love their neighbors as themselves.It's. Just. Too. Late.